I don’t often agree with Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, but I do think he is going in the right direction with his open membership proposal. In this country our politicians often lament that the population is largely disengaged from our political process and we try to find all sorts of ways to attract young voters- Trudeau just did that.
Membership will no longer have its privileges. Anyone who signs up with the Liberals (with no membership fee involved) will have the right to take part in policy development, nomination meetings, conventions and future elections of the leader.
Unlike the Conservatives who after their last election loss circled the wagons and fired inward, the Liberals have taken a bold new step. The Conservatives have gone in the opposite direction to the Liberals with their new $25 membership fee that has to be paid by cheque or credit card. In effect the Conservatives have managed to make themselves more exclusive rather than inclusive. The Liberals have broadened their tent while the Conservatives shrank theirs. Time will tell who made the right move.
The Liberals will find there are lots of hiccups along the way, especially at the constituency level. In weaker regions, membership fees helped to keep struggling associations going. There will always be the fear of single issue groups hijacking nomination meetings (as there is now) and we will have to see how they manage fundraising and what amount does the national office share with ridings or keep of monies raised by riding associations.
Speaking of fundraising, the Liberal fundraising machine must be rubbing its hands in glee waiting for all these new Liberals to give them their name, address, telephone number and email address.
It will also be fun to watch what happens when the central party wants to get things done a certain way and folks at the grass roots level refuse as they don’t think they owe party headquarters any loyalty or any deference for that matter.
But compare that to a large influx of new members, who are excited to be part of the political process, who bring fresh new ideas to the table and who can serve as a broad based group for policy development rather than it being initiated by party insiders.
I expect the NDP will have to move in the same direction as the Liberals or risk losing large numbers of their members to the Liberals, many of whom voted Liberal in the last election. With Liberal policies already moving into traditional NDP territory this new membership proposal does pose a threat to the NDP. What about the Green Party? Could this move of Trudeau’s actually unite the left? That is an interesting question and puts even more pressure on Mulcair and the NDP bosses this coming weekend?
One of Keith’s better offerings.